Don Jose Ruiz is a Toltec Master of Transformation and modern-day Shaman. He is a direct descendant of the Toltecs of the Eagle Night lineage and is the son of don Miguel Ruiz. He is the author of The Fifth Agreement, Ripples of Wisdom, and My Good Friend the Rattlesnake. Along with his family, he teaches workshops and offers transformational journeys around the world.
For Jose, many people are addicted to suffering. It’s as if we are intoxicated with stories that fuel anger, fear and division. Although this is a turbulent time of great change, it has the potential to wake people up.
Everyday we have the opportunity to choose love, peace, joy and gratitude. Or we can choose fear, hate and anger. We are like an actor in a movie, but we have the power to change the script if we follow our hearts and enjoy our life. This echoes the message from the Dr. Tommy John episode and his obsession with “living high.”
Jose says that self-love starts with loving our own body. He compares it to adopting a puppy from a shelter. Think of the puppy as our physical body. We must not reject it, rather we must shower that puppy with love… and we must do the same with ourselves. Through our words and actions, we can treat ourselves as the love of our life. This is the inner work we must do to transform our lives.
Unfortunately, most people have been domesticated to think they are separate from Nature. However, the Shamans see everything as Nature. To respect Nature also means respecting the Nature within all of us.
According to Jose, we’ve been taught suppress our feelings and emotions: “But when we go back into our own truth, we speak what we feel, we are not suppressing our emotions anymore.” Even if we feel nervous or pain, we still must speak our truth.
Jose says every living being is able to feel their emotions: “the power of feeling is the power of listening.” The body is communicating with us, we just need to listen. In fact, in the Shaman tradition, we speak to nature by listening to the physical body. He says that our body is an extension of Mother Earth.
Jose reminds us that we must respect Nature – from the tiniest spider to the largest elephant. He says: “We all have the right to live, even the animals have the righ to live, even the Amazon jungle has the right to live.”
Many humans want to control Nature out of fear. However the way of the Shaman shows us a different path. We must begin by listening to our bodies, our hearts and ourselves because this is all an extension of Nature.
Jose also reminds us that “the little one’s are watching.” Our life is an example for young people and future generations. Are we going to live a nightmare of division, fear and anger and pass that on to them? Or as elders, are we going to walk a path of authenticity and listen to the body and live our dreams so the little ones can experience heaven on hearth? For Jose, we make that choice every day!
Later, Jose talks about the rituals he performs every day to stay grounded and peaceful, such as spending time with his little puppy and getting creative. He says it’s about enjoying life. For Jose, creativity is a huge part of that, from creating music, writing books or even just working on his house. And this creativity comes from the heart.
You can learn more about Don Jose and his work here: https://www.miguelruiz.com/
You can also connect with him on Instagram right here
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